Friday (8/10/2018)

Opening Bell: Meeting opened by President Paul Alvestad by having past president of many moons ago Ron Roberts ring the bell from his seat. Pledge of Allegiance by John Duppenthaler; Song “God Bless America” by Hal Cline and our two British born members who added “God Save the Queen” at the end; Four Way Test by Bob Lutschg; Visiting Rotarians as introduced by “Coach” Jack Stonestreet (who tried to introduce last week’s visitors before being corrected) Mike Mitchel, Bob Anderson (GH North), Joyce Taylor (Shelton) and three invaders (from Tacoma 8) Don Hanson, Barry Benson and Fred Mathazi; Guests Dave Holsinger (of Sophie Perkins), Marc Silba, Gene Krebs and Guy Allen (all of Walker Allen) and Geoff Barcalow (Randy Barcalow’s son); and speaker Joe Piscatella. Greeters – none spotted.

President’s Comments:

Member Mel Wick is presently in the hospital recovering from a surgery and the Sunshine Committee of Allisha McVey and Dorothy Wimberly have been alerted.

President Paul displayed three screens which showed (a) the coming events for this week, (b) the list of brain storming ideas for club activities which are under consideration and (c) the future community events.

President Paul reported on the joint Rotary get-together at the Rainer’s baseball game which he enjoyed so much that he had to be reminded who won (Paul, it was the Dodgers).

Various Announcements:

Visitor Mike Mitchell pitched the second annual Rockin Rhythm and Blues Festival to be held on August 18th at the Sportsman’s Club for the benefit of soldiers and veterans – PTSD Permission to Start Dreaming http://ptsdfoundation.org/ .

Marcia Harris reminded us of the three awards granted by our club which are Star’s Award in February to a non-Rotarian, the Rotarian of the Year to a Rotarian as selected by the club president and the Vocational Service Award given in September to a Rotarian for extraordinary service over and above that given for Rotary projects.

John Mitchell reported on the coming Courage bike ride later this month in which we have five members participating and the club is handling the lunch portion on Sunday at Mossyrock between 9:30 am and 1:30 pm for an expected sixty riders.

Hal Cline was before the group again to remind those who are participating in Dinners for Eight to be sure to show up for their anointed dinners.

Mystery woman Cindy Reed (who was adorned with a breathing mask because of dust particles) promoted a meeting after next Friday’s meeting for those interested in Early Act and Brent Tayet reported on the Early Act benches being installed at Artondale School.

The Raffle was handled ably by Larry Olson and Donna Lormor with someone winning the right to ten free tickets next week. And then Hal Cline made his third appearance before the club when he successfully drew the blue chip for $764 (with President Paul muttering in the background the names of several worthy club charitable projects).

Fines and Happy Bucks:

John Winslow ably insulted and fined a few, but not Hal Cline who to the surprise of many successfully named the three other couples coming to his Dinners for Eight that night. However, Todd Fletcher contributed a dollar because Cottesmore’s dishwasher had broken down so we had dined off paper plates and cups and plastic silverware. His protests of adding air conditioning to the meeting got him nowhere. Lastly, Annie Arbenz happily contributed to the pot by declaring that she had completed the Canadian Ironman in Whistler, BC two weeks ago which consisted of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run in 14 hours 35 minutes. (Don’t think her 9:01 transition time from bike to run was spent in putting on her famous high heels.) Annie, at age 35, became the third active club Rotarian to finish an Ironman, joining Paul Willett, who finished in a slower time at age 53, and this scribe, who was also slower but age 61.

Speaker: Hal Hodgins introduced fellow Rosedale resident Joe Piscatella, a nationally known author on health and the heart. Joe spoke on lifestyle versus how we choose to live with special emphasis on diet, exercise, smoking, stress and attitude. Unfortunately, those in this country have not been doing a good job with the USA ranked 169th country in health, just behind Croatia. While we have 6% of the world’s population, we have 33% of the world’s fat. Now, the average woman weighs 166 pounds and average man 195. He challenged us by inquiring whether we wanted to spend the last twenty years of life in a golf cart or wheel chair. Lastly, he described how he had changed his life style at age 32 to the better as a result of a 95% blockage in his heart.